Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Oink Oink (Good Bye, John)

Note: this was originally written on 4 October 2010 in a blog post in a game I play and the reproduced in Facebookas a note. My apologies if you already read this.

This is for no one else. No one here would understand or care. The only person who would have cared will never read this post. Not now, not ever.

I used to blog a lot. I had a private, personal journal blog for a few years. It was small and read by a handful of people. We all blogged and got to know each other well. Dare I say, we all became very good friends.

With that, so did the some of the friendships. Those who were on FB still remained friends to a degree.

Two blokes who became dear friends of mine were known as Tazzy and Piggy. They were sweethearts to the nth degree. They saw me through some very difficult times in my life and had me smiling and laughing through everything. I always promised myself that ONE DAY, I would go to the UK and share a pint with them.

They were both on FB so, even with the demise of my blogging, I was still able to contact them. It wasn't the same as blogging though. The banter was different and I felt more intrusive on their personal life. Still, I kept them in high regard and always said the ONE DAY, I would go to the UK and share a pint with them.

Tazzy and Piggy adored Alton Towers. They were forever going there and always posting about their ventures, especially their roller coaster ones. They loved roller coasters almost as much I do. It had literally been years since I went on a super fast Category 5 thrill ride. The last time I did was long before I started blogging and got to know them. When I was finally going to get to the UK, it was going to be a pint and a trip to Alton Towers to ride on a super fast thriller roller coaster.

About a month ago, Piggy started moaning about how he wasn't feeling well. He said it was a cold. I read his FB updates, read the comments, thought of commenting yet never did, and left it at that.

Two weeks ago, he was hospitalised. He was still updating his FB with his hatred of the hospital and all the procedures he had to endure. I finally wrote on his profile's wall and asked if he wanted me to come to the UK to do the Teddy Bear dance for him.

A few days ago, Tazzy started updating his own profile saying Piggy was too sick to even do updates. Everyone was well wishing and hoping for the best.

Yesterday, while I was at an amusement park, my cousin texted me. Since she rarely does it, I naturally blurted out loud, "I wonder who died?" Little did I know how prophetic the inside joke she and I share would be.

After weeks of battling pneumonia, Piggy passed away on 2 Oct 2010. I felt it strangely odd that, of all places to receive the news, I was at an amusement park.

About an hour after I got the text, I lowered the body harness over me as I sat in a suspended car and waited for the Great Bear, a category 5 thrill ride roller coaster, to start.﻿
xx

This is a great post. If ever there was a universal connection that binds and balances all things, this was proof of its existence.

I think it's wonderful that you got to finally experience that thrill ride, something Piggy would've loved and celebrated. He was probably on a thrilling ride himself to the heavens the same time you were thrust towards the skies.